Baseline characteristics: disease, treatments and outcome measures
| Control group (n=63) | Intervention group (n=64) | |||
| n* | n* | |||
| Type of inflammatory arthritis, n (%) | 63 | 64 | ||
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 17 (27.0) | 22 (34.4) | ||
| Axial spondyloarthritis | 39 (61.9) | 33 (51.6) | ||
| Peripheric spondyloarthritis | 7 (11.1) | 9 (14.1) | ||
| Disease duration, median (IQR), years | 63 | 4.0 (0.8–10.0) | 64 | 2.4 (0.8–6.8) |
| Treatments | ||||
| NSAIDs, n (%) | 63 | 32 (50.8) | 64 | 29 (45.3) |
| GCs, n (%) | 63 | 13 (20.6) | 64 | 18 (28.1) |
| GC current dosage (mg/day), median (IQR) | 12 | 7.3 (4.0–10.0) | 18 | 10.0 (7.5–20.0) |
| At least one current cDMARD, n (%) | 62 | 23 (37.1) | 64 | 27 (42.2) |
| Current methotrexate, n (%) | 62 | 17 (27.4) | 64 | 22 (34.4) |
| Current leflunomide, n (%) | 62 | 2 (3.2) | 64 | 2 (3.1) |
| Current sulfasalazine, n (%) | 62 | 1 (1.6) | 64 | 2 (3.1) |
| Other current cDMARD, n (%) | 62 | 3 (4.8) | 64 | 1 (1.6) |
| Number of cDMARDs (including current cDMARD), n (%) | 62 | 64 | ||
| 0 | 39 (62.9) | 37 (57.8) | ||
| 1 | 16 (25.8) | 21 (32.8) | ||
| ≥2 | 7 (11.3) | 6 (9.4) | ||
| DAS28†, mean (SD) | 17 | 3.9 (1.8) | 26 | 4.1 (1.2) |
| BASDAI (0–10)†, mean (SD) | 44 | 5.5 (1.9) | 41 | 5.6 (2.1) |
| ASDAS†, mean (SD) | 43 | 3.2 (0.9) | 36 | 3.1 (0.8) |
| Coping (0–10)†‡, mean (SD) | 62 | 4.3 (2.2) | 63 | 4.7 (2.4) |
| Psychological well-being (0–10)†‡, mean (SD) | 62 | 4.8 (2.4) | 64 | 4.7 (2.4) |
| AHI (5–20)†, mean (SD) | 58 | 13.0 (2.6) | 56 | 12.5 (2.6) |
| BMQ necessity score (5–25)§, median (IQR) | 55 | 20.0 (19.0–23.0) | 60 | 21.0 (18.0–23.5) |
| BMQ concerns score (5–25)†, mean (SD) | 56 | 15.2 (4.6) | 57 | 15.4 (4.1) |
| Serious infections before enrolment¶, n (%) | 63 | 2 (3.2) | 64 | 4 (6.3) |
| bDMARDs prescribed, n (%) | 63 | 64 | ||
| Anti-TNFα | 61 (96.8) | 59 (92.2) | ||
| Other | 2 (3.2) | 5 (7.8) | ||
Control group: 1 pulmonary infection, 1 digestive infection; intervention group: 1 lung infection, 2 urinary tract infections and 1 undocumented.
*Number of available data.
†High score indicates poor score.
‡From the Rheumatoid Arthritis Impact of Disease.
§High score indicates good score.
¶Infections requiring hospitalisation or intravenous antibiotics; patients concerned had only one infection that required hospitalisation.
AHI, Arthritis Helplessness Index; Anti-TNFα, Anti-Tumor Necrosing Factor α; ASAS, Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society; ASDAS, ASAS-endorsed Disease Activity Score; BASDAI, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index; bDMARDs, biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; BMQ, Beliefs About Medication Questionnaire; cDMARDs, conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; DAS28, Disease Activity Score in 28 joints; GCs, glucocorticoids; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.